Claude de Villars

Claude Louis Hector de Villars de Martigues de Melun (8 May 1653-17 June 1734) was a general of the Kingdom of France and also a nobleman and politician.

Biography
Villars was a veteran of the Siege of Maastricht in 1673 during the Franco-Dutch War he was made a colonel a year later. From 1690 to 1697 he served as the commander of the French cavalry in Flanders during the War of the Grand Alliance but later served as the Ambassador to the Holy Roman Empire at the war's close.

Villars was made the commander of the Army of the Sambre-Meuse in 1700. During the War of the Spanish Succession he captured Brussels and Amsterdam in 1701, ending the United Provinces.